Jayco Herald Sun Tour - Race Overview

Simon Clarke has claimed the overall victory at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in unusual circumstances after the final Queen stage of the five day tour was cancelled due to extreme fire danger in the region. With his win in Bendigo on stage two, Clarke had built up a lead of 8” over Cameron Wurf (Cannondale) in second place and a comfortable 1’22 advantage over the riders thought to be general classification contenders. All classification results earned following yesterday’s stage three became the final overall results.

A great show of teamwork throughout the week saw Clarke claw his way back up the overall and into the leader’s jersey after he lost time to GC threat Nathan Haas (Garmin-Sharp) on stage one in Ballarat. Clarke spent a gruelling day in the breakaway on stage two to claim the stage win and a comfortable margin atop the overall classification. The team looked forward to defending that lead all the way to finish line at Arthur’s Seat today.

The Jayco Herald Sun Tour victory is ORICA-GreenEDGE’s second general classification win on home soil, following last month’s Santos Tour Down Under win. It is also the third time in as many weeks that the GreenEDGE family has won the team classification (Tour Down Under, Ladies Tour of Qatar, Herald Sun Tour). The Australian outfit is once again buoyed by the exemplary teamwork that paved the way to this victory.

“Everyone is happy with the week of racing here and the win. The guys did a great job and worked really hard for me this week. We were confident going in to today’s stage that we would be able to defend the overall, but like in any bike race, anything can happen. We were up for the challenge, and it was a shame that we didn’t get a chance to do that.It’s unfortunate for the organisers that the last stage was cancelled today, but we are still really happy to have won the overall here,” Clark added. “I’m looking forward to having this win on my palmarès.” - Simon Clarke

“It has been a fantastic week for the team. Everyone committed completely to the team’s goals and to Clarkey, and I can’t praise their efforts enough. Stage two in particular was a great performance by all of the guys, to come from so far back and put Clarkey into such a winning position was very impressive.” - Sport Director Matt Wilson